2 rare elephants shot dead in Indonesian jungles

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Two Sumatran elephants were found dead with gunshots to the head in a protected forest in western Indonesia, a conservationist said Tuesday.

Park rangers have been riding the animals for weeks in the Kerinci National Park and surrounding areas to prevent entry by illegal loggers, who have been clearing jungles at an alarming rate to make way for palm oil and other commercial plantations.

Though provincial conservation chief Andi Basrul refused to speculate on a motive for the shootings, he said they appeared to have been carried out by professional poachers.

Basrul said the Sumatran elephants were both 20-year-old females. Rangers found their bodies on March 24, hours after they were used for a patrol and several hundred yards (meters) from their camp.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRlAJx1GtkRHYx3QqSFVaKyoKbTgD978VCQG1

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Poachers are scum. Absolute scum.

[Lorien]

1. And those palm oil plantations-all owned by China-threaten to wipe out

nearly every square mile of forest and kill off most indigenous species of Sumatra. When I hear people say that unchecked human population growth is A-OK than I wonder if they have the slightest CLUE about what's going on in the rest of the world to keep up with our demands. :grr:

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